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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two animal welfare groups are trying to bring about the end of greyhound racing, which has been declining for years, with an aggressive effort to change laws and public opinion in the states where dogs still race.

By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A woman accused of kidnapping her infant daughter from South Carolina in 1994 and living overseas with her for nearly two decades was sentenced to 21 months in a U.S. prison on Tuesday. Dorothy Lee Barnett, 54, who was arrested in 2013 in Australia and extradited in September to Charleston, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to federal charges of international parental kidnapping and falsifying passports. Prosecutors have said Barnett vanished with her baby girl during a court-approved visit in South Carolina after her ex-husband, Benjamin Harris Todd, was granted legal custody of their child in a contentious divorce. Barnett moved overseas, remarried and changed her name to Maria Geldenhuys, according to court records.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa widow is charged with a crime and had nearly $19,000 seized from her bank after depositing her late husband's legally earned money in a way that evaded federal reporting requirements.

OLYMPIA -- A bill that would allow Washington State University to start a medical school in Spokane passed a House committee on a 12-1 vote this morning. The companion bill passed the Senate committee in the afternoon.

By Letitia Stein TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A woman notorious for sneaking onto commercial flights has been jailed in North Florida, where she was caught checking into a beach resort under a false name, authorities said on Tuesday. Marilyn Hartman managed to board a flight from Minnesota to Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday without a ticket, according to an arrest report from the Nassau County Sheriff's Office. At the northeast Florida airport, the 63-year-old stowaway was asked by a resort shuttle driver if she was another woman with a reservation at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort.

By Natasja Sheriff NEW YORK (Reuters) - A jury intently watched the videotaped confession on Tuesday of a man accused of murdering Etan Patz in 1979 and heard him say he choked the 6-year-old boy and "just couldn't let go." In the courtroom, Pedro Hernandez, 54, saw himself on a large screen near the jury tell law enforcement he lured the boy to the basement of the Soho deli where he worked, strangled him, placed him in a box and dumped the body in an alley. He said, 'Yeah,' so I told him to go to the basement," Hernandez said under questioning by Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Armand Durastanti. He described Patz as blonde, wearing a little jacket and carrying a book bag and said he strangled the boy. I felt like something just took over me, and I was choking him," Hernandez said on the videotape. "He was still gasping," Hernandez said on the videotape.

A hospital worker has been charged with the murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, whose disappearance shocked the campus and drew national headlines, authorities said on Tuesday. Jesse Matthew Jr., 33, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury last week. He was the last person seen with Graham, an 18-year-old sophomore, who went missing in September. Matthew has been charged with first-degree murder and abduction with intent to defile, Albemarle County prosecutor Denise Lunsford said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's time to study and maybe even test the idea of cooling the Earth by injecting sulfur pollution high in the air to reflect the sun's heat, a first-of-its-kind federal science report said Tuesday.